They were at Baekhyun’s house a hour later after their late breakfast. Chanyeol was definitely disappointed when they had to change their pajamas into some decent clothes. He slouched on Baekhyun’s couch, switching through the channels as he waited for Baekhyun to finish packing. He couldn’t find anything at all interesting but he tried hard to enjoy whatever show he was watching to distract him because he wanted to so badly go in Baekhyun’s room and just simply watch the shorter do whatever he was doing. Chanyeol was considerate though, because what if Baekhyun wanted privacy while packing. Which was very likely.

He placed his head on the arm of the couch and twisted his body until he was comfortable. Chanyeol felt a paper poke his head. He turned his head and found a paper indeed, on the table beside the couch. Chanyeol was going to move it away a bit when he saw what it had on it. His heart almost jumped out his chest. There was a big red heart drawn on it with his name written in it over and over again. Chanyeol here, Chanyeol there, Chanyeol everywhere. All in that heart. Chanyeol never thought his name could look so pretty.

He grabbed the paper and admired it with a big fat grin plastered on his face. Gosh, how much he wanted to keep that for himself and just look at it all day long. It was far much better than t.v. so he stared at it instead.

As he was so into it, looking at each letter of his repeated name, someone snatched the paper out of his hands. Chanyeol smiled, of course it was Baekhyun. He tilted his head to look at the red faced boy and raised an eyebrow.

"It’s pretty." Chanyeol commented and watched as Baekhyun bit his lip and shifted his eyes elsewhere.

"Where did you find it?" Baekhyun asked, his face was burning by now.

"Right," Chanyeol pointed above his head to the table."Here."

Baekhyun was about to turn back to his room but Chanyeol hopped off the couch and walked up to Baekhyun.

"I really like it, Baekhyun." He blurted out."And I want to keep it." Chanyeol ended with a beatific smile.

"Huh?" Baekhyun looked dumbfounded.

"Can I have it?" Chanyeol asked looking into Baekhyun’s eyes.

"Why would you want this?" Baekhyun sputtered."It’s not pre-"

"I want it because you drew it and it’s about me, obviously." Chanyeol laughed softly."And I really really like it."

"A lot."

Chanyeol eyes grew hopeful and Baekhyun noticed it. His heart warmed up at the sight and he couldn’t help but give in.

"Fine. Here." Baekhyun slammed the paper gently onto Chanyeol’s chest then passed him to hide his flustered self in his room. Chanyeol glanced at Baekhyun then laughed. He was absolutely adorable being all embarrassed.

A few minutes passed and Baekhyun came out with a suitcase in his hands."I’m done." He announced to Chanyeol.

Chanyeol made his way to Baekhyun and took the suitcase out his hands then pulled it to the doorway."Is that all you need?"

"For now, yeah." Baekhyun said, looking around his house sadly as if he was saying a silent goodbye. Chanyeol went up to Baekhyun and held his hand.

"You’ll come back. But after we make sure you’re safe." Chanyeol whispered tenderly."You know where we’re going to go now, right?"

Baekhyun looked up at Chanyeol and then back to the floor, he seemed afraid and nervous.

"We’re going to the police and you tell them everything you know about that guy." Chanyeol explained slowly and softly as if he was speaking to a child."Okay?"

Baekhyun bit the inside of his cheek and nodded.

Chanyeol smiled and squeezed Baekhyun’s hand."I’m with you, don’t worry."

Baekhyun shifted his gaze onto Chanyeol’s face and managed to give the taller a smile, although it was a weak one but it was a smile nonetheless.

***

They stayed nearly one hour at the police station and when they went into the room where they give their information, they were only allowed to go in one at a time. Baekhyun went in first and he stayed about 40 minutes in there. Question after question after question until he let it all out. Every little thing he knew. He was proud of himself when he didn’t shed not one tear. It might finally end soon, he thought. And he will feel much better and definitely much safer.

As soon as they let him out Chanyeol ran up to him and held both his hands and he was relieved to see Baekhyun smiling. It made him feel peaceful. When Chanyeol went in, it was only for about ten minutes since he didn’t know much. But he was determined to know soon, to understand why Baekhyun didn’t tell anyone.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun walked to the car silently and also remained silent in the car. Chanyeol absolutely disliked it so he decided to do something to change the quiet and awkward air surrounding the two. He silently drove to a mall he went shopping to the most and pulled Baekhyun out the car.

"Let’s go eat something!" Chanyeol exclaimed and tugged at Baekhyun’s hand gently, taking him into the big mall.

Lots of eyes were on them because they were holding hands but Chanyeol didn’t give a freak. It only made him pull Baekhyun closer to him, watching over the smaller boy warily. He lead them to a Latin restaurant in the mall and let Baekhyun choose what he wanted. Baekhyun ordered spaghetti and salad and also lemonade while Chanyeol ordered the same thing but instead of lemonade he chose coke. There was lots of chatting around them and it was noisy which was why Chanyeol wanted to take their food and go elsewhere but they weren’t allowed to. He looked across him to the older, Baekhyun looked back at him and smiled brightly then went back to eating.

Chanyeol felt much better because Baekhyun didn’t seem down and bothered anymore. He watched Baekhyun eat and just like the other day, he pulled Baekhyun’s feet in between his. He could tell that Baekhyun really liked that. They stayed that way the whole 20 minutes for lunch, with their feet together under the table. There wasn’t much talking going on between them, their feet were enough. And besides they were busy chewing on their delicious lunch.

Baekhyun had thought that after lunch they would go to the car but Chanyeol took him to a clothes shop instead. When Chanyeol told him want he wanted to buy, Baekhyun had refused at first but after much begging and convincing he finally agreed and Chanyeol smiled in victory.

The first pair of pajamas Chanyeol picked out were dark blue plaid ones. He got him his size then searched for the same one in Baekhyun’s size. He wasn’t going to bother look through the couple pajamas, because then Baekhyun would have to wear the ones for women. That’s all they had, which still got Chanyeol mad. Now instead he stayed in the men’s section only and picked the same pajamas just in different sizes. And he considered them couple pajamas, so no problem.

After picking the third pair which was black and white with swirls here and there, Baekhyun tried to stop him from getting anymore but Chanyeol refused and searched for just one more.

"You’re crazy." Baekhyun muttered.

Chanyeol grinned at him."I told you, I’m always crazy."

Baekhyun immediately recalled the first time Chanyeol told him that. It was when he had accepted Chanyeol as a boyfriend. Honestly, that day he could have never thought that he would be shopping for pajamas with Park Chanyeol. It’s amazing how things could change as time passed by. It wasn’t even long, just a few days. Almost a week.

"Ok. How about this?" Chanyeol showed him the supposedly last one he was getting. The dark red was very alluring to Baekhyun. He touched the fabric, it was silky. He really liked it but he couldn’t help but think that it was too provocative. Baekhyun didn’t know if the color really was provocative or was it just him, letting his mind wander into another land. But it was the color couples on tv wear to bed on a night tha- 

Okay stop.

"It’s nice." Baekhyun said then lifted a finger pointing at Chanyeol."Now that’s it. You’ve got eight pairs already, that’s insane."

"What? I like pajamas, especially on you." Chanyeol smiled slyly as they walked off to pay. And once again Chanyeol refused to let Baekhyun pay.

Chanyeol was not done going to places with Baekhyun. He put in the bags of clothes in the car and took Baekhyun’s hand again leading him to walk on the sidewalk.

"Where are we going?" Baekhyun asked as he only saw cars on the road and shops everywhere with people everywhere.

"Somewhere." Chanyeol answered and pulled him closer."First tell me, are you allergic to any animals?"

"Ahh…no." Baekhyun mumbled.

"Good."

"But.." Baekhyun began slowly as he scrunched his nose."I do hate fish. I can’t stand fish."

"Well we won’t be seeing the fish then." Chanyeol assured him.

"Are we going to a zoo?" Baekhyun glanced at Chanyeol.

"Yeah," Chanyeol smiled."We’re almost there."

Baekhyun smiled back at Chanyeol then he kept his gaze fixed on their intertwined hands. It felt nice to hold hands and just walk together.

The first thing they wanted to do when they got there was buy ice cream, although they still had to wait in line in the little ice cream shop at the zoo. It was a pretty long line, about seven people were still ahead of them. The place was fuller than other days, lots of kids and adults were there since it was spring break. Baekhyun excused himself to go to the bathroom and he left, leaving Chanyeol alone in the line.

“Hey," Chanyeol turned his head to look at the voice that greeted him in a very sultry tone. Uhh.. girls. Three of them. The annoying type.

Each one was wearing shorts way too short and inappropriate, and with half shirts. Chanyeol immediately turned away, trying to act like he hadn’t seen them.

Suddenly the girl who called out for him the first time was standing in front of Chanyeol and her hand was crawling up his chest, making him feel extremely disgusted and uncomfortable.

“Why are you ignoring me hot stuff?" She purred and tugged on his t-shirt.

"I’m not ignoring you." Chanyeol blurted out, getting annoyed by the girl. She didn’t even look his age, maybe in her early twenties, but he really didn’t give a damn. He just wanted Baekhyun to come and they’ll pay for their ice cream then leave to see all the animals. Except for the fish of course.

"Oh really?" She smiled and the other two girls giggled as they watched.

"How about w-" The girl was cut off by Chanyeol.

"I have to leave." He said sternly then walked up to the cashier and that’s when Baekhyun appeared beside him. Chanyeol smiled when he saw him then turned to give the cashier the money. He handed Baekhyun his ice cream then he held his hand, walking out the shop and leaving the irritating girls back in there.

Baekhyun bit his lip, he was trying to get over his jealousness because yes, he did see the girls with Chanyeol and it made his blood boil. Almost like the same as before, when he would see the girls at school around the younger.

His lips formed a small pout of sadness and he pulled his hand away from Chanyeol’s. He unwrapped his ice cream and stuffed it in his mouth, pretty harshly.

"Woah, you’re going to get a brain freeze if you eat like that, Baek." Chanyeol laughed.

Baekhyun remained quiet and took another bite, he walked up to the peacocks and looked at them instead of Chanyeol. Chanyeol went behind him, eating his own snack.

"Do you like these birds?" Chanyeol stood next to him and watched as Baekhyun only nodded for an answer. Chanyeol noticed when Baekhyun didn’t really want him to.

"Are you okay?" Chanyeol whispered to him. All he got was another nod and Baekhyun walked off to the next animal, which were tiny cub bears. Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows, there was definitely something wrong with Baekhyun. Something was obviously bothering him and he was getting exasperated since he didn’t know what it was.

He sighed and went up to Baekhyun who was trying to act like he was interested in the bears but he didn’t give one care. Not when he was really upset and uncomfortable. Chanyeol silently watched with Baekhyun the two cub bears cuddling together.

"They’re cute, aren’t they?" Chanyeol tried to bring up anything to lighten up Baekhyun’s mood.

"Mmm…." Baekhyun responded half heartily to Chanyeol.

It all made sense and everything was clear to Chanyeol when he saw Baekhyun make a quick annoyed expression at the girls that were walking up to them. They were the same girls from the ice cream shop. Baekhyun walked away from Chanyeol and went to the next cage to observe (not really) the monkeys.

He stared at a particular monkey and then pouted to it. The monkey stared back at him and Baekhyun decided to talk to it, more like whisper to it because it’ll listen to him. He’s sure.

"He didn’t even come after me when they came." Baekhyun murmured sadly. He didn’t dare to look back at Chanyeol because he was afraid of what he was going to see.

“I’m so upset." Baekhyun admitted to the monkey who was looking at him as if he was listening to him and actually caring about what Baekhyun had to say.

Baekhyun gasped when Chanyeol suddenly came forward and gripped on his hand then pulled him to the girls who were watching in amusement. Baekhyun’s eyes went wide with surprise.

"I’m going to make it clear." Chanyeol said to the girls."I’m not interested because I have a boyfriend and this is him." He felt so proud to say that Baekhyun was his boyfriend.

"And I don’t want anyone but him, so go find someone else to flirt with." Chanyeol finished off and pulled Baekhyun closer to him.

The girls seemed shocked and it took them a moment to believe what just happened and when they did, the one that was trying to get to Chanyeol scoffed and turned around as she signaled for the other two to go after her.

‘I don’t want anyone but him’

‘I don’t want anyone but him’

‘I don’t want anyone but him’

Baekhyun’s head felt light and his heart was beating fast, faster than ever. His stomach was turning in a way that made him dizzy. A smile made its way on his lips and he knew he was blushing. All the sad and disturbing thoughts were completely gone when Chanyeol spoke up.

He wants no one but me, Baekhyun thought and he bit his lip to stop his smile from covering his whole face.

Chanyeol took Baekhyun’s hand in his again and gazed at the older boy. Baekhyun’s eyes were nearly sparkling in happiness as he tightened his grip on Chanyeol’s hand.

The rest of the hour they walked almost all around the zoo, passing away from the fish display for Baekhyun. By the time they got to the car their legs were killing them. Baekhyun only noticed how much they really hurt when he sat on the comfy seat of Chanyeol’s car. They were standing for about three hours straight anyways, how could they not hurt?
Baekhyun took a glimpse at the time, it was 5:43 pm. He had never felt so exhausted at this time of the day but today he wanted to sleep so badly.

"Did you have fun?" Chanyeol asked when they were on the road again.

"Yeah, a lot." Baekhyun smiled.

"You know, Baekhyun." Chanyeol glanced at him for a second then back to the street, smiling teasingly."You’re cute when you’re jealous."

"Huh?" Baekhyun’s eyebrows furrowed."When was I ever jealous?"

Chanyeol chuckled."Really? What was with the gloomy face you were giving me then?"

Baekhyun blushed and looked out the window, not saying a word.

"Don’t worry, those girls have nothing on you." Chanyeol smiled and Baekhyun’s heart did flips because Chanyeol actually said “nothing on you" in English; with perfect pronunciation this time.

“I wasn’t jealous." He mumbled but Chanyeol heard him anyways.

"Uh-huh, I believe you Baek although you seemed like you were ready to throw them in the tiger cage, if you had a chance." Chanyeol teased."I like it when you’re jealous."

"I wasn’t jealous." Baekhyun repeated, rolling his eyes slightly. As soon as Chanyeol opened his mouth, Baekhyun 
reached his hand out and turned up the volume of the radio so he wouldn’t hear Chanyeol and his teasing.

Chanyeol only laughed and continued to drive, stealing glances at Baekhyun every little bit.